August/September 2005
Cultivating
Relational Intelligence
Nina Simons
Crimes
Against Democracy: An Interview with Thom Hartmann
Jim Guiness
Rebirth
in the Forest
Will Sears
Right
Living, and Surviving, After The Age Of Oil
John Darling
Permaculture
and Place
Steve Gabriel
Think
of Local Food First
Wendy Siporen
Sustainable
Living at Solviva
Anna Edey
Year-Round
Gardening in Home and GreenHouse
Jeffrey M. Smith
The
Greening of Cuba
Caroline Whyte
A
Path of Peace, Kindness and Compassion
Jody Woodruff
From
Hurt to Heart
Eryn Kalish
Epictetus'
Handbook Revisited
Gay Hendricks & Phillip Johncock
The
Sky of Now
Katie Davis
The
Complete Book of Raw Food
Reviewed by Rachel Bendat
Whole
Foods Companion
Reviewed by Rachel Bendat
Cosmic
Calendar
Salina Rain
Cultivating
Relational Intelligence
By Nina Simons
What lies at the heart of many of the toughest issues that we face—both as a culture and as a species? Innovative environmental solutions and strategicsocial models alone won’t be enough to alter our collective course. What’s ultimately required is a change of heart, a shift in how we relate to each other and to the whole of the living Earth. The root source of our gravest challenges—both socially and environmentally—is a crisis of relationship.
The tear in our relational fabric is apparent in every area of our lives: from the corporate invasion of our schools to the profusion of divorce and domestic violence; from toxic factory farming to the loss of civil liberties; and from deforestation and global warming to people making war on each other all over the world. How, then, can we enhance and accelerate our learning about conscious kinship?
First, it might help to stop idolizing rational intelligence to the exclusion of our other capacities. As Candace Pert says “we have bodies for other reasons than to transport our heads around.” Western culture has long over-emphasized the importance of mental intelligence. Our other ways of knowing, through our hearts, hands and spirits, have become weakened from disuse, as we’ve become distracted by an emphasis on getting more stuff. In the Cherokee language, there’s no word for the love of an inanimate thing—love is only possible between two sentient beings. Anyone who loves a thing is considered insane.
Fortunately, there are some encouraging signs of change, on a societal level.
Jeremy Rifkin, in his new book, The European Dream, notes that the two cultures have now developed diametrically opposed ideas about freedom and security. For Americans, freedom is associated with autonomy and independence. For many young Europeans, however, he says, “freedom is now found in embeddedness, in having access to many interdependent relationships. The more communities one has access to, they believe, the more options one has for a full and meaningful life.”
With a history of relations that have reinforced hierarchy, domination and disrespect as the norm, we have a lot of unlearning to do. To alter our orientation to one of partnership and reciprocity will require real commitment, practice and patience. But I believe that our biological orientation toward relationship, and what biologist E.O. Wilson calls biophilia—that innate affinity that life has for life—strengthens our likelihood of success.
The natural world is resplendent with symbiotic long-term reciprocal relationship, between blossom and pollinator, moisture and mycelium, plants and herbivores. In nature, no one lives in isolation, and the sense of balanced interdependence is palpable in any thriving ecosystem. We can opt to be mentored by its mastery, if we can quiet ourselves long enough to hear, smell, feel and learn from it.
To navigate the wild changes ahead, decrease the violence of this tumultuous time, and shift our civilization’s direction, we will need to invest the same authority and value in our relational intelligence as we’ve previously given to our intellectual development. If we can do that, it will ultimately lead to real healing and restoration—the restoration of our wholeness, as a global community—of our deep and fundamental interdependence with each other, other species and the whole interwoven web of creation.
Nina Simons is co-executive director of Bioneers (Collective Heritage Institute) and has been co-producer of the Bioneers Conference since 1990. Nina was named an Utne “Visionary” in 1996 for her innovative work in communication, community building and ethical commerce. Since 1987, with partner and Bioneers founder Kenny Ausubel, Simons has developed numerous strategic communication initiatives to increase public awareness about key social and environmental innovations, educating people through the media about pressing issues and promising model solutions. Visit www.bioneers.org for information on the work of this exceptional organization. See the ad on page 2 for details on the Oregon Bioneer’s 2nd Annual Conference at Lane Community College in Eugene which will take place Oct. 14-16. The Bioneers 2005 Conference takes place October 14-16, at the Marin Centerin San Rafael, California. Contact Bioneers toll-free at 1-877-BIONEER.
